John's friend Rosika won a major lottery jackpot. Seeing this, John goes out and buys a bunch of lottery tickets despite struggling financially and even though he knows that millions don't win and that the odds of winning are infinitesimal. John's decision to buy the lottery tickets under these circumstances would best be explained by the

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

John's decision is best explained by the availability heuristic, which is a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a person's mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method, or decision. In this case, John is influenced by the recent, vivid example of his friend Rosika winning the lottery, making him overestimate his own chances of winning despite the very low probability.

John's Friend Rosika Won a Major Lottery Jackpot